J. W. Jenkinson Memorial Lectureship

J. W. Jenkinson Memorial Lectureship
John Wilfred Jenkinson (1871–1915) was a pioneer in the field of comparative developmental biology (the forerunner of evolutionary developmental biology) and one of the first to introduce experimental embryology to the UK at the start of the 20th century. He originally studied Classics as an undergraduate student at Oxford, before switching his attention to Zoology under the guidance of W. F. R. Weldon at University College London. He also travelled to Utrecht University in the Netherlands, to work with Ambrosius Hubrecht, and was exposed to new methods and approaches in embryology. In 1905, he was appointed the first lecturer in Embryology at the University of Oxford in England, and in 1909 published the first English textbook on experimental embryology in which he summarized recent work in the emerging scientific discipline and criticized neo-vitalist theories of Hans Driesch.
At the outbreak of war in 1914, Jenkinson joined the Oxford Volunteer Training Corps. In January 1915 he was assigned to the 12th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment and was soon promoted to the rank of captain. Jenkinson left England with his regiment in May, posted to the Dardanelles in Turkey. On 4 June 1915, just days after arriving on the Gallipoli peninsula, Jenkinson was killed. After Jenkinson's death at Gallipoli in June 1915, the University of Oxford established the John Wilfred Jenkinson Lectureship in his memory. The original statutes required the lecturer or lecturers, appointed annually, to deliver “one or more lectures or lecture demonstrations on comparative or experimental embryology”.
Each year, a Board of Electors selects one or two Jenkinson Lecturers who are invited to Oxford to present a lecture in the broad area of developmental biology. The list of Jenkinson Lecturers includes many distinguished names, including Nobel Laureates (marked with *).
Holders of the J. W. Jenkinson Lectureship
1961 Michail Fischberg
1962 P. H. Tuft
1963 Wolfgang Beerman
1964 Jean Brachet
1965 Rupert E. Billingham,
1966 Jan Erik Edstrom
1966 Alberto Monroy
1967 *Bob Edwards
1968 Georg Klein
1969 R. M. Gaze
1969 H. Chantrenne
1970 *Sydney Brenner
1970 Niels Kaj Jerne
1971 Ernst Hadorn
1971 J. M. Mitchison
1972 Anne McLaren
1972 G. Gerisch
1973 Susumu Ohno
1974 Ruggero Ceppellini
1975 Andrzej Tarkowski
1976 No formal lecture was held
1977 Nils R. Ringertz
1978 Martin Luscher
1978 Armin C. Braun
1980 Pasko Rakic
1980 Walter Fiers
1980 Nicole Le Douarin
1981 Werner Reichardt
1981 Antonio Garcia-Bellido
1982 Lionel Jaffe
1982 Maurice Sussmann
1983 Stanley M. Crain
1984 Rudolf Jaenisch
1984 *Robert G. Edwards
1985 G. S. Dawes
1985 *François Jacob
1985 Hans G. Schweiger
1986 W. Maxwell Cowan
1986 Marc Kirschner
1986 Peter A. Lawrence
1987 *Gerald Edelman
1988 Corey Goodman
1989 Josef Schell
1989 *John Gurdon
1989 Webster K. Cavenee
1990 Kai Simons
1991 Carla Shatz
1991 Harold Weintraub
1992 Manfred Schartl
1992 Noriyuki Satoh
1992 Bruce Cattanach
1993 Chuck B. Kimmell
1993 Andrew Lumsden
1994 Peter Gruss
1995 Brigid Hogan
1996 Ray Guillery
1996 Susan K McConnell
1997 James C Smith
1997 Cliff Tabin
1997 *Tim Hunt
1998 Peter J. Bryant
1999 Davor Solter
1999 Françoise Dieterlan-Lievre
2000 Peter Holland
2000 Max Bear
2000 Eduardo Boncinelli
2001 Marc Tessier-Lavigne
2002 *Roger Tsien
2002 Enrico Coen
2003 Mike Bate
2004 Cheryll Tickle
2004 Rudy Raff
2005 Gerd Jürgens
2005 David Weisblat
2006 Stephen Cohen
2006 Michael Akam
2007 Shigeru Kuratani
2007 Janet Rossant
2008 Richard Gardner
2008 Didier Stainier
2009 Sean B. Carroll
2009 Wendy Bickmore
2010 Nick Hastie
2010 Paul Sternberg
2010 David Kingsley
2011 Jurgen Knoblich
2012 Caroline Dean
2012 Hopi Hoekstra
2013 Olivier Pourquie
2013 Nipam Patel
2014 Gero Miesenböck
2014 Alex Schier
2015 *John Gurdon
2016 Detlef Weigel
2016 Linda Partridge
2017 *Jennifer Doudna
2018 Liqun Luo
2018 Elizabeth Robertson
2019 Andrea Brand
2019 *Shinya Yamanaka
2022 Nancy Papalopulu
2023 Denis Duboule
2024 Ben Lehner; Forthcoming
Lectureship management
The lecturers are elected by an electoral board consisting of: the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford; the rector of Exeter College, Oxford; the Regius Professor of Medicine; the Linacre Professor of Zoology; the Waynflete Professor of Physiology; Dr. Lee's Professor of Anatomy; and a member of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Board elected by that board.
References
1915 establishments in England
Jenkinson
Embryology
Developmental biology
Lists of biologists
Recurring events established in 1915